Gerhard Berger sprang a surprise in that '86 race by collecting his
and Benetton's first Grand Prix win. A year later victory went to Nigel
Mansell, although the race had to be stopped after the bumpy surface led
to a massive crash for Derek Warwick. One year later Philippe Alliot
suffered an even bigger accident in practice, although he was thankfully
able to crawl unhurt from the wreckage. Alain Prost won the race, a
feat he repeated in 1990, sandwiching Ayrton Senna's only triumph on the
circuit. The Brazilian would fall victim to the unpredictable surface
in '91, rolling after losing the rear of his McLaren over the Peraltada
bumps in qualifying. Riccardo Patrese won for Williams, and one year
later followed team mate Nigel Mansell home.

That would be the final Grand Prix held on the circuit - which still
hosted a number of national and international championships over the
subsequent years - until a return to the Formula One calendar was sealed
for 2015 after an injection of both private and government money. The
facility was comprehensively upgraded, with the entire track resurfaced
for the occasion and changes made to a number of corners including
Peraltada. The event was a huge hit with drivers and fans alike, proving
that Mexico still has a very strong appetite for all things F1.

The 2016 race was as exciting as ever. Lewis Hamilton kept his title
hopes alive with a comfortable victory from Mercedes team-mate Nico
Rosberg in the Mexican Grand Prix. Hamilton survived a scare at the start, when he ran wide at the first corner after locking a front tyre. But otherwise he was untroubled en route to his 51st career win.

It was a little further down the road that the drama unfolded.

Ricciardo had been closing on Vettel as he duelled for third with
the second Red Bull of Max Verstappen. With Vettel bottled up behind
the Dutchman, Ricciardo pounced at Turn 4 and appeared to have the
inside line - only for Vettel to squeeze the Australian, with the pair
making light contact several times before Vettel eventually fended
Ricciardo off to hold position.

"I just felt that Seb did what everyone's been complaining about
lately, moving under braking," Ricciardo said of the incident, which
stewards are investigating. "He is smiling now. For me he doesn't
deserve to be up there [on the podium] with the move he pulled.

"It looked like he opened the door, I committed and had every right
to be there, but he kept closing the door and in the end I had nowhere
to go.

"I was frustrated by that. We know Max's moves have been a bit
questionable - that was the same case today with Seb. Don't get me wrong
I love racing, I love racing hard and even a bit of contact, but this
whole moving under braking - you don't move after you've been out-foxed.

"Seb moved early, I'd won the chess match you could say, and then he
went 'oh no' and moved late and left me nowhere to go. To me that’s not
right. It was still a fun race, but I would have loved to be up there on
the podium."

Vettel ran a long first stint on the supersoft tyre, and pitting
late meant he had fresher tyres to chase Verstappen in the closing laps.
He caught the Red Bull but in turn was caught by Ricciardo, leading to a
three-way squabble for position. Vettel crossed the line in fouth, was
promoted to third, then ended up fifth after a post-race penalty.
Raikkonen meanwhile struggled with tyre wear and came home sixth.

Sebastian Vettel, 5th

“Today I think we did everything right, we had a very good pace. I
think we could have even done better with a better position in
Qualifying, but we can't change yesterday. We were very positive going
into the day today, we knew that the speed was there, so we had good
confidence for the race. We made the tyres last longer than anybody
else. We were quicker, so we put Verstappen under pressure: for sure it
was not easy to pass, but he did a mistake, cut the track and didn't
give the position back even if he was told to do so. About the fight
with Daniel: I respect him a lot, it is never ideal when you touch. On
my defense, I was fighting hard, and trying to give him some space,
which I think I did.”

Kimi Raikkonen, 6th

“My start was not too bad and we were running quite ok. After the
first pit stop, though, I struggled to get any good grip with the
Mediums, so we thought maybe we should try and see if we could go back
on track with a new set of the same tires: but to be honest I had no
better grip at the rear. It was the first time I was running with these
tyres, maybe it's just how the tire is. Afterwards it's easy to say that
probably it was not the right thing to do, but I'm happy that we tried.
It was not easy to pass Hulkenberg, it's difficult when you get close
and you have no grip. I don't know if we touched, I just saw him spin.”

It meant that Vettel dropped from third to fifth in the final
classification, with Ricciardo moving up to third and Red Bull team mate
Max Verstappen - who earlier had five seconds added to his race time
for going off track and gaining an advantage whilst battling the
four-time champion - to fourth.

In making their decision, the stewards referred to the race director
Charlie Whiting’s recent directive in the United States, which
stipulated that any change of direction under braking which results in
another driver having to take evasive action will be considered abnormal
and hence potentially dangerous to other drivers.

With everything on the line at the next race in the iconic Grande Premio Do Brasil in just a few weeks time, all eyes will be on the Mercedes duo.

Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez

First Grand Prix

1963

Number
of Laps

71

Circuit Length

4.304KM

Race Distance

305.354KM

Lap
Record

1:20.521 by Nico Rosberg (2015)

​

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